Conjugating the Irregular Spanish Verb Ser (to Be)

Spanish verbs fall into different groups, and each group is conjugated a little differently. If you’re going to master Spanish verbs like ser, you need to be able to identify which group a verb belongs to: regular(follows regular conjugation rules for -ar, -er, and -ir verbs), stem-changing (morphs depending on how you use it in a sentence), spelling-changing (has consonant-spelling changes in some forms to follow pronunciation rules), or reflexive (reflects the action back on the subject of the sentence).

But then there are those verbs that refuse to be lumped into a category: the irregulars. Ser (sehr) (to be) is an irregular -erverb; it doesn’t follow most normal ending patterns, so your best bet is to just memorize its conjugations. Here it is in the present tense:

The Present Tense of Ser

Conjugation

Translation

yo soy

Iam

tú eres

You(informal)are

él/ella/ello/uno es

He/she/oneis

usted es

You (formal)are

nosotros somos

Weare

vosotros sois

Youall (informal)are

ellos/ellas son

Theyare

ustedes son

You all (formal)are

The following examples show you ser in action:

La boda es el veintisiete de junio. (The wedding is the 27th of June.)

Ellos son mis abuelos. (They are my grandparents.)

The following table shows you ser at work in the preterit tense. Think you’ve seen these conjugations before? You probably have; it just so happens that they’re also the preterit forms of the verb ir (to go). It may be confusing, but look on the bright side: It’s one fewer set of verbs you have to memorize.

The Preterit Tense of Ser

Conjugation

Translation

yo fui

Iwas

tú fuiste

You (informal)were

él/ella/ello/uno fue

He/she/onewas

usted fue

You (formal)were

nosotros fuimos

Wewere

vosotros fuisteis

You all (informal)were

ellos/ellas fueron

Theywere

ustedes fueron

You all (formal)were

You use the preterit tense like this:

Fuimos al baile anoche. (We went to the dance last night.)

Fui a verte en tu casa. (I went to see you at your house.)

Ser is one of only three irregular imperfect verbs. Here’s that conjugation; notice that, like regular verbs, the first-person and third-person singular forms (yo and usted) are the same.

The Imperfect Tense of Ser

Conjugation

Translation

yo era

I used tobe

tú eras

You (informal) used tobe

él/ella/ello/uno era

He/she/one used tobe

usted era

You (formal) used tobe

nosotros éramos

We used tobe

vosotros erais

You all (informal) used tobe

ellos/ellas eran

They used tobe

ustedes eran

You all (formal) used tobe

Here are some examples of the imperfect tense:

Eramos futbolistas. (We used to be soccer players.)

Shakespeare era un gran escritor. (Shakespeare was a great writer.)

Good news! Ser is regular in the future tense, so you can apply the regular verb endings here.